As One
by Jander Panell
Summary: How do different pairs interpret their relationships? Mitarai hates his name.  "Forceless."  He'll hate it no matter what his Sacrifice says. Series of drabbles, OC-centric.
1. Immaculate

**As One**

_How do different pairs interpret their relationships? "Immaculate" is afraid to examine theirs, and for good reason. Series of drabbles, OC-centric._

I am supposed to be writing a paper. Instead I wrote this. Basically these drabbles will all center around a different (original) pair, and focus on their dynamic and what they think about the role of Sacrifice and Fighter. No plot.

* * *

_IMMACULATE_

Rey only ever wears white.

Matsuzuka thinks it looks stupid, but he would never say that to Rey's face. He believes that there are some kinds of people who can pull off pure white, and some people who cannot. Rey falls in the "cannot" category. His hair is not black or light blonde; it is gingery. His skin is not pale or dark, but a sickly, sallow shade. In the white suit and tie he looks greenish. Like a freshly dug-up zombie.

Men in white are imposing, cold, clean as the edge of a razor. Rey just looks slovenly. He takes care of the suit, but not his hair or face. Matsuzuka has long memorized all the pimples dotting Rey's chin like a constellation.

How Matsuzuka disdains of Rey. Yet he likes Rey too, sometimes. He knews that he's supposed to like Rey all of the time, because he is Rey's Fighter Unit, but truthfully most of the time he finds the boy irritating. He will fight the requisite battles during the night and then he will return to his own house and sit in front of the computer and watch a few episodes of _Stargate: Atlantis _and go to sleep and forget all about Rey until he has to meet Rey again for the next night.

Matsuzuka attended the Seven Voices Academy, so he knows that this is not the way a Fighter should feel about his Sacrifice. He supposes he ought to be ashamed. But he can't be assed to feel anything aside from light irritation. Even then it's not irritation directed at himself, but at Rey.

"We lost again," Rey says as they walk home together. Rey lives across the town from Matsuzuka, but they depart from the same bus stop, so they're stuck together for a few more minutes. Minutes usually spent in silence.

Matsuzuka just grunts. The night is cold and he longs for the comfort of his room and a bottle of bourbon and an episode of Atlantis. He finds Rey's voice annoying.

"Even though we're Immaculate, Matsuzuka."

Another grunt.

"Do you know what Immaculate means?"

"Without sex," Matsuzuka says, gazing disdainfully at Rey's reddish fox ears and tail.

"No," Rey says, his sallow face coloring. It is an unpleasant sight. "It means without stain. No dirt, no sin. Clean and perfect and pure."

"So?"

"Then why do we lose?" Rey's eyes glimmer. It strikes Matsuzuka how young Rey is-not even out of high school yet. Matsuzuka starts to feel a little sorry for Rey, but not really.

"Who cares," Matsuzuka says.

"You know, I was so excited," Rey says. The words tumble from his mouth, too fast and erratic. "So excited when my name first appeared and I knew I had a partner, somewhere. Someone out there who was just like me. Just as immaculate as me."

Matsuzuka wants to say, you're not immaculate, but he doesn't feel assed to. They sit down together at the bus stop, on the opposite sides of the bench. As always. Doesn't matter because Rey keeps talking, he's not expecting a reply.

"When this name first appeared on my chest I knew I was special. I knew that there was only one person who could understand me and that was the other person who had that name on their chest too, in the exact same spot. Immaculate. I thought for sure...I really thought...I dreamed about it for so long, I mean." Rey swallows. "Dreamed about our first meeting. I was sure everything would...that something would just _click, _you know."

"Mm-hmm." Matsuzuka wonders what he felt. He was one of the last in his year in the Academy to be bonded, but for some reason that never bothered him. Being bonded always sounded like a pain in the ass to him. It's better being by himself. All alone in his apartment with only his thoughts for company. He feels cleanest like that.

Other people - even his Sacrifice - are too much of a pain.

"I guess...you're not what I expected, that's all." Rey glances wearily at Matsuzuka. He looks a little ill; Matsuzuka remembers that he took a lot of damage in the fight today.

"You're not what I expected either," Matsuzuka says, but that's because he was expecting nothing.

"Immaculate," Rey repeats, tracing the letters through his coat. His finger digs into the cloth like he wants to tear straight through it. "Our name is Immaculate. We share one name. One soul."

"Sure," Matsuzuka says.

"Sure," Rey says with a sigh, and his arm falls down to his side again. Knuckles hit the bench with a little thud. Is he cold? His shoulders shake a little bit. Matsuzuka isn't cold, but maybe he is and he just doesn't notice.

"Tomorrow we'll win," Matsuzuka says.

"Sure." Rey sighs even heavier.

"Definitely," Matsuzuka says.

"Yeah."

The bus rolls in, gleaming slightly under the street lamps. It's Matsuzuka's. He stands up and doesn't look back at Rey as he walks into the warmth and light of the nearly empty bus. As he sits down and untangles his headphones from his iPod, he stops thinking about Rey altogether. What's the point? He has more interesting things to look forward to. His clean little apartment. His laptop, folded neatly on the desk where he always leaves it. Predictable things. Not at all like the Rey he can't understand. He starts musing about which Atlantis episode he should watch this week. He's watched all his old favorites five times already but because he likes them enough, he'll keep returning to them.

Outside the bus, Rey waits. The moonlight gleams off his white suit. He brushes the pad of his thumb against the corner of his eye and then rubs it on his pants leg, and there is a little grayish wet stain. Rey stares at it and says, "Definitely. We'll win."

The stains on his suit are all dried by the time he returns home to his mansion. Because they're just water, after all.

* * *

Hey, Stargate Atlantis is a great show.

Anyway, reviews are really, really nice. In the meantime, I will return to writing that paper.


	2. Forceless

**As One**

_How do different pairs interpret their relationships? Mitarai hates his name. "Forceless." He'll hate it no matter what his Sacrifice says._

Had this written for a while, but never got around to posting it. I actually ended up writing a spell battle using entirely OCs, but I don't know if it would fit at all in the plotless drabble format of these stories. Well, we'll see. For now, here's an introduction to the pair Forceless.

* * *

FORCELESS

"Our name is Forceless."

Enjou says the words with lazy satisfaction as his fingers ghost down Mitarai's chest, stroking slow circles rom his collarbone to his stomach. Mitarai tries to focus on his sacrifice's touch, on each exquisite brush of Enjou's long fingers against his skin, instead of the words leaving Enjou's mouth. Enjou speaks in his calm, measured way, and normally Mitarai would never tire of hearing his sacrifice's voice, but - but not while Enjou is saying those words.

"We share one name. One soul. Forceless."

Enjou's hand stops right above the waistband of Mitarai's pants. Mitarai swallows, fighting the urge to beg Enjou to keep on touching, to bring his hand even lower... Because he shouldn't contradict his master. Instead, he lies there on the bed, supporting himself with his elbows, watching Enjou's face while barely daring to breathe. He wishes that Enjou were looking at him, but instead Enjou's dark eyes have slid contemplatively to Mitarai's stomach...or rather the name shimmering slightly against Mitarai's pale skin:

_FORCELESS._

Every time Mitarai looks at the name, a quiver of revulsion rises in him. Oh, he does his best to fight it down, but he can't help it. He _hates _his name. The name that he and Enjou share.

He knows it shouldn't be this way. That day his name appeared and he knew that he wasn't alone in the world, that there was another just like him, he should have been overjoyed. Instead...he felt nothing but a crushing sense of disappointment, coupled with denial. That _couldn't _be his name, couldn't. _Forceless. _One without force. One who was, in other words, _weak._

He's weak. That's what his name means, and no matter how much Enjou tries to convince him otherwise, he knows it will not change.

"Oh, Mitarai..." Enjou sighs heavily and presses down on the name, applying the slightest bit of pressure, and it's all Mitarai can do to keep himself from hissing. What right does he have to refuse his master's touches? But Enjou soon lifts his hand and brings it back to his side, and Mitarai is more relieved than he will admit.

Enjou perceives Mitarai's relief, just as he perceives everything - there is no hiding from him. "Mitarai, I really - no matter how I explain it to you, you won't understand, will you?"

_What is there to understand? _Mitarai thinks mutinously, but out loud he says, "What do you mean, Enjou-sama?"

"I mean our name." Enjou sits up and turns away and Mitarai feels a sudden pang of fear - has he disappointed Enjou somehow? But Enjou continues talking as calm as ever. "Even now, after all this time, you won't accept it, will you? I've told you time and again. 'Forceless' doesn't mean being weak. We can win without overwhelming force. Through subtle attacks, through carefully chipping away at the opponent's defense. But it's no use, this is nothing I haven't told you dozens of times before."

Finally, he looks back at Mitarai. Mitarai tries to suppress a leap of joy when his sacrifice's eyes meet his, because after all, there is no calm amusement glinting in those dark eyes now; just a sort of sad resignation that Mitarai hates, _hates _seeing because it means his sacrifice is upset. Upset because of him.

"Mitarai, I just don't understand. _Why?"_

"Enjou-sama," Mitarai replies dully. He feels sick, sick and tired of this argument, but it's one they'll keep having possibly until the end of eternity. Because it's just the way the two of them are...the way they clash. What a pathetic team they make: always rubbing one another the wrong way, never working in harmony. "I've told you before too. You can say those things, but...the way you want to fight, it makes battles go on for too long. You have to take damage...get hurt."

"Of course I do," Enjou says, and is it just Mitarai's imagination, or does he look a little annoyed? "That's the sacrifice's role."

"And the fighter's role is to protect the sacrifice! If I let you take damage, how is that protecting you?"

"As long as I don't undergo absolute restriction, it's fine." Enjou sighs and rakes a hand through his dark curls. "I'm serious. Mitarai...please trust me. That's also one thing the fighter has to do. Trust the sacrifice."

"And you have to trust me," Mitarai says, dry-mouthed. "Trust me to protect you."

"If we fight at full power, if we fight according to our name, we won't lose," is all Enjou says. He looks down, folds his hands in his lap. "Mitarai, I like you a lot, and I respect you a lot, but...I also want to be as strong as I can. Please, don't hold me back. Don't hold _yourself _back."

Enjou is not a fighter, but he can wield words as well as any fighter unit, if not even better - because he knows exactly what kind of words will pierce Mitarai's heart. He _hates _it, being told that he's holding his sacrifice back, that he's - he's being a burden. No. He must never be a burden. He must always be as useful as he can, becuse that's the only thing he can do as a fighter unit. As Enjou's fighter unit. As - he wants to choke on the thought - _Forceless' _fighter unit.

It should be so simple. Obey Enjou's orders. Fight the way Enjou wants to. Fight the way their name makes them fight.

But...another instinct is engraved even deeper in Mitarai's soul. The first lesson his father ever taught him: _Protect your sacrifice. _And Father only taught him one way to do that, and that way is not Enjou's.

Mitarai voices as much. He says to the ceiling, because he can't stand to look at Enjou's face, "Father was the fighter unit for Relentless. They were renowned as some of the most powerful attackers in their generation."

"But you're not your father," Enjou says, and a note of strictness has entered his voice. "And we're not Relentless. We're Forceless."

"I know," Mitarai doesn't say so much as sigh. "And there's nothing I can do to change that, is there, Enjou-sama?"

He knows he's being impertinent, but he doesn't care, because he knows that Enjou doesn't care either. Enjou is a strange master, and Mitarai doesn't know whether he likes that or not. Indeed, he halfway hopes that Enjou gets angry and punishes him, but Enjou just replies with a shake of his head before staring off into the distance.

"Mitarai...why...why is it so hard to accept our name?"

His voice is soft, suffused with a horrid layer of sadness, and Mitarai's heart clenches and almost _breaks, _because he knows his sacrifice is suffering because of him. Worse, it's a suffering he knows he can prevent...

But it's not that simple. Never is.

* * *

I really do like these two and I've written more with them (including showing them in an actual battle lawlz). Yeah, for some reason _Loveless _seems really conducive to OCs.

Review if you want to.


End file.
